The invention here disclosed relates to a baby eel substitute and a method of fabrication thereof, from among the food products based on fish derivatives known as xe2x80x9csurimixe2x80x9d and their industrial fabrication methods.
The invention is characterised by a special formulation of the substitute which incorporates additives which determine the texture, organoleptic characteristics, nutritional properties and external appearance of the final product, but above all it is characterised by the fabrication process, improved in its thermal treatment stage, such that it is these changes which allow to formulate the substitute in the aforementioned manner.
Fish derivatives known as surimi, that is, fish muscle ground, washed and rinsed, have been known in the market for years so that they are sufficiently well known and no further description is required.
One of these food products based on surimi is baby eel substitute, which since its first registration (ES2010637) has been changed in its formulation and improved in its fabrication process, incorporating new elements to its external appearance, such as a dark back (ES2048672, ES2049654, ES2125196, ES2034920, ES2055668), simulated eyes (ES2048672, ES2125196, ES2055668), spindle like shape (ES2048672, ES2055668) or mixed textures (ES2049654).
All baby eel substitutes have in common a majority surimi base to which are added several ingredients, some of which are necessarily always present while others are specific of each invention, and in any case are incorporated in varying proportions. Each baby eel substitute is therefore characterised by its specific ingredients which are not present in others, as well as by the proportion of the main ingredients which in many cases, as in this one, are clearly outside the provisions of the preceding inventions.
Among essential ingredients are salt (sodium or potassium chloride), water, additives to increase the elasticity of the product, (ovoalbumin, starch, surfactant agents, calcium and magnesium salts or vegetable proteins), gelling agents, (agar-agar), alginates, carrageens or collagens) and further products which increase the jellification capacity, such as starch (vegetable fecula or flour of various origins), ovoalbumin or even blood plasma)
Among the specific additives are those responsible for the optical and organoleptic properties of the finished product, such as added proteins, flavour additives, aroma or colouring. In this group may also be included cryoprotection agents, as the most frequent form of conservation of the finished product is freezing.
Continuing this analysis of the background, fabrication processes could be grouped about a model which, for purposes of simplification, could be considered as basic and which includes five clearly differentiated stages, which would undergo several modifications for each specific patent.
Firstly, there is always a stage which involves grinding the fish which is to serve as a base for the product, followed by a second stage of homogenisation of the mass of ground fish, at the end of which there is a third stage including addition of the aforementioned complementary ingredients, which are also homogenised in a repetition of the second stage.
In fourth place is the extrusion and cutting stage of the product, in order to give it its final external appearance, for which some extrusions are cylindrical with endless cutting (ES2034920) while other are laminar with sequential cutting, such as this one, allowing to include not only longitudinal elements but also transverse ones such as simulated eyes, and which also allow to define the longitudinal shape of the substitute (ES2048672, ES2055668, ES2125196).
In fifth and final place is the thermal treatment of the properly extruded product, which often is a single treatment (ES2048672, ES2055668) but which can also be divided into two stages (ES2010637) or include a cold blast afterwards (ES2125196).
On occasion, the order of the above stage may be changed, such as when performing the thermal treatment between the extrusion and the cutting (ES2048672).
Nevertheless, the laminar extrusion and sequential cutting process has the disadvantage of having the longitudinal side cuts of the substitute parallel and completely straight, which is in detriment of the desired baby eel appearance.
There also exists a tendency to abuse of adding water to later achieve a proper jellification, not considering that the surimi base already has a high water content, so that finally the desired texture and consistency properties are obtained at the cost of the product""s nutritional quality.
These disadvantages are solved in the present patent by the novelties included in the thermal treatment stage, which allow to reduce the water proportion while incorporating a number of additives which change the common organoleptic properties of these baby eel substitutes.
Not only the product but also its fabrication method is clearly different from previously known ones, due to the novelties introduced in the thermal treatment stage where both the outer appearance and the texture of the finished product are improved, also changing its nutritional and organoleptic properties.